Decorative spraying machine



Y F. c. FLINT 'Er AL' 1,959,711

DECORATIVE sPRAY 1NG MACHINE May 22,1934.

Filed Jan; 1o. 1930 2 sheets-sheet 2 'iwmhm Patented May 22, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT ol-Flca DECORATIVE SPRAYING MACHINE 4ginia Application January 10, 1930, Serial No. 419,953

8 Claims.

This invention relates to spraying mechanisms and while more especially intended for use in connection with the decoration of glassware such as percolator tops, etc., the invention is not so limited as it may be used in coating a great variety of ob` jects and especially where quantity production is y A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and novel means for supporting the articles to be coated, to the end that the coated articles may be readily removed and replaced by uncoated articles during the continuous operation of the mechanism.

A further object of the invention consists in the use of air under pressure for projecting the coating material onto the articles and also for rotating the articles, as well as an automatic control for the air.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings; in which Figure l is a side elevational view of the apparatus partly in section; and

Figure '2 is a plan view thereof; parts being broken away.

Referring to the drawings in more detail the numeral 1 indicates the base plate on which is mounted a bracket or standard 2 and an electric motor or other source of power 3. Also mounted on the plate 1 is a step bearing 4 in which is disposed a thrust bearing 5 for a vertical shaft 6. This shaft is provided with a worm wheel 7 cooperating with a worm 8 which is keyed to the shaft of the motor 3.

46 The upper end of the shaft 6 is supported by a bearing 9 formed on the arm 10 of the bracket or standard. Adjacent the upper end ofpthis shaft an arm 11 is mounted as by means ofthe sleeve or hub 12, and this arm carries a spraying device to be described. On the upper end of the shaft 6 is secured a disc 13 to which is flxed a turntable 14 ada; ted to carry the articles to be sprayed.

In't e present embodiment of the invention the table 14 is arranged to carry ten of the articles to be sprayed; in this instance shown as percolator p tops 15. Each article holder comprises a bearing 16 fixed to the table as by means of bolts 17. Mounted in each bearing 16 is a shaft 18 supported on a pivot 19 at the base of the bearing member 16. On the upper ends of the shafts 18 60 are xed article supporting discs'20; and where hollow articles such as percolator tops are being treated by the machines. centering means such as discs 21 are fixed to the top of the discs 20 as indicated in Figure 1.

The discs 2O are adapted to be rotated during the spraying process and to this end a plurality of varies or plates 22 are xed to the underside of each of the discs 20 andare adapted to receive a jet of air at the proper time, as will be herein- 70. after described, for causing the discs and the articles supported thereby to be rotated under the spraying device.

Quite often it is desirable to provide coloring material on only a portion of the article, as in the case of percolator tops, and to shield that portion of the article which is to remain uncoated, masks or shields 23 are provided. The shields may take a variety of forms, but in the present instance they comprise two semi-circular inverted cup-shaped portions hinged to the disc 20, as indicated by the numeral 24; and the meeting edges of the tops of these semi-circular portions are provided with semi-circular notches so as to cause the same to t around the body of the article, as indicated at the left of Figure 1. The semi-circular portions of the masks 23 are provided with handles or lugs 25 between which are secured compression springs 26 which normally tend to hold the sections of the vshields in closed position about the articles. By-pressling the handles 25 toward each other against the pressure of spring 26 it will be understood that the shield will be opened so that an article to be sprayed or coated may be placed on the disc 20 or may be removed therefrom after being coated.

cles is placed in a reservoir 30 mounted on the rod 31 which is supported on the free en d of the 100 arm 11, as indicated by the numeral 32. This arm 11 carrying the supply of oogt/mg material,

as well as the other parts of thesprayingdevice,

is supported at its free end on a rib 33 formed on the upper surface of the bracket 2,I thus serving to reduce friction in the oscillatory movements of the spraying device during the operation of the apparatus.

Connected to the lower end of the reservoir 30A as by means of nipple 34 is a hose 35 which 110 construction a pneumatic spraying device is provided for projecting the coating material onto the articles to be coated, andI a hand valve 41 Y is provided in the branch 39 of the nozzle for regulating the amount of compressed air entering the nozzle.

The end of the compressed air hose 40 remote from the nozzle 36 is connected with a coupling 42 which is in turn connected with an automatically operated-valve 43 for controlling communication with a hose 44 leading to the compressed air supply. This valve 43 is mounted on the top of the bracket or standard 2 as by means of bracket 43. Also connected with coupling 42 is a ilexible hose 45 which has a nozzle 46 attached to its opposite end. This hose is supported. on the rod 31 as by means of arm 47 and clamp 48, and it will be understood that the arm 47 is so positioned on the rod 31 as to cause the nozzle 46 to be in substantially the horizontal plane of the vanes or Wings 22 of the rotatably mounted discs 20. Therefore, when the air is turned on the nozzle 46 as will be presentlyA described, a stream of compressed air will be projected against the vanes 22, thus causing a rapid rotation of the discs 20 as they are presented in front of the nozzle.

It will be understood that the spray is only intermittently operated, and that the` article supporting discs 20 are also only intermittently rotated, although the table 14 carrying these article supports is continuously rotated when the device is in operation. The spraying device is caused to intermittently takerup the movement ofthe table 14 and is caused to automatically operate during this movement, in a manner which will now be described.

Extending radially from the table 14 are a plurality of triggers 50; these triggers being equal in number to the article supporting discs mounted on the table. These triggers are mounted in casings 51 on the underside of the table 14 and are normally projected outwardly as by means of springs 52. In order to withdraw the triggers 50, downwardly projecting lugs 53 are provided which extend through slots 54 formed in the underside of the casing 51. The triggers or pins 5 0 are adapted to cooperate with a vertically extending pin 55 which is mounted on the' upper surface of the arm 11 just beyond the periphery of the table 14. It willbe seen, therefore, that as the table continues to rotate,

one of the trigger arms 50 will come into enthe pressure of spring 52 and -thus release the trigger 50 from engagement with the pin 55 on armVV 11. attached to the arm 11 and the other end atvto obtain access to these articles it is only neces- A tension'spring 58 having one endA .serves to convey the coating material to the spray tached to the bracket 2 serves to return the arm and spraying device to its initial position against a stop 59 where it is again picked up and caused to travel with the table as the next article is brought intol position for spraying by the continuous rotation of the table.

As already stated, ,the pneumatic spray is in operation only for the short period of time during which the spraying device travels with the table 14, and in order to automatically control the passage of the compressed air to the spraying nozzle 36 and the propelling nozzle 46, cam plates 60 are spaced about the peripheral edge of the table as indicated in Figure 2; there being ten of these cam plates in the present embodiment. These cam plates 60 cooperate with the valve stem 6i to open the spring-pressed valve 43, and

l are of such length as to cause the valve to re- 10 sary to press the lugs 25 toward each other so as to open the masks 23, and uncoated articles are placed upon the discs 20 in the same manner.

The operation of the several elements of the apparatus have been fully described in connection with the description of the apparatus, and a repetition of the complete operation of the device is believed to be unnecessary further than to say that the coated articles may be thereafter heat treated to form a glaze thereon in'any preferred 11i manner.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that we'4 have devised an automatic device for rapidly coat- A12( ing articles in large quantities; that means are provided for uniformly distributing the coating material over the articles; that the device is economicalin the use of the coating material as well as in the use of compressed air by reason of the intermittent operation of the spraying device and the article rotating means; and that the means employed for rotatably supporting the articles and shielding portions thereof are so' designed as to permit of readily and rapidly apply-- ing and removing the articles.

In accordance with the patent statutes we have described what -we now believe to be .the preferred embodiment of the invention, but it is readily apparent that various minor changes'. may be made in the details of the construction without in any way departing from the spirit of the invention, and all such modified forms are intended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.

Having fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters vPatent is:

1.,A machine for coating `articles including a rotatably mounted support for an article, an air 141 pressure line for projecting a coating onto said article, blades on said rotatable support, and a nozzle connected in said line for projecting a stream of air against `said blades.

2. A machine for coating articles including a 15* rotatably mounted support for an article, a reservoir of coating material, an air pressure line for spraying said coating material on the article and rotating said support, and an automatic control for said line.

3. A machine for coating articles including a rotatable table, a plurality of rotatable discs mounted on said table, eachl of said discs adapted to receive an article to be coated, a source of air under pressure, an air pressure line leading from said source and projecting coating material on the articles, and a second air pressure line leading from said source and rotating said discs. 4. A machine for coating articles including a rotatable table, a plurality of article holders on the table, pneumatic means for applying the coating material and for rotating said holders, and means operated by the rotation of the table for controlling the operation of said pneumatic means.

5. A machine for coating articles including a table, means for rotating the table, rotatably mounted article supporting means on the table, a pneumatic spraying device, pneumatic means for rotating said article supports, a valve for controlling' the air pressure to said spraying device and to said means for rotating the supports, and means on the table for controlling said valve.

6. A machine for coating articles including a table, means for rotating the table, rotatably mounted article supporting means on the table, a pneumatic spraying device movably mounted adjacent the table, pneumatic means for rotating said article supports, a valve for controlling the air pressure to said spraying device and to said means for rotating the supports, means on the table for controlling said valve, and means for intermittently causing the spraying device to move with the table.

7. A machine for coating articles including a table, means for rotating the table, rotatably mounted article supporting means on the table, a pneumatic spraying device movably mounted adjacent the table, pneumatic means for rotating said article supports, a valve for controlling the air pressure to said spraying device and to said .means for rotating the supports, cams on the table for intermittently operating said valve,

and means for causing the spraying device to move with the table when said valve is open.

8. A machine for coating articles including a rotatable table, an oscillatably mounted spraying device adjacent the table, a lug on one of said elements, a spring-pressed latch on the other of said elements for intermittent engagement with said lug, and a cam for disengaging sa'id latch at a predetermined angular position of the table.

FRANCIS C. FLINT. CHARLES B. WILES. 

